A place where I am able to raise some awareness about organ donation, ramble about my experiences on the waiting list and also life post transplant and diverge into other compelling and amusing things I may find along the way...

Saturday, November 1, 2008

I frequently pressed my pain relief button all night and day which caused me to drift in and out of sleep, but this only took the edge off it. I was also experiencing a lot of pain in my left side…bizarrely this was the side that Kasper was plucked from Oli. I have no idea whether this was anything to do with the nerves that Kasper brought with him, but a few days later I even noticed a strange bruise on my side where the kidney would have been in Oli. Crazy the way the body works.

The main transplant Professor visited me who assured me everything was fine and dandy and my creatinine was down to 90. Considering the Wednesday before the operation my pre dialysis creatinine was 806 - this was just incredible. Creatinine is basically a measurement of nasty toxin levels in blood and urine which reflects the glomerular filtration rate (GFR). The GFR is clinically important because it is a measurement of renal function...hence giving me an indication of whether Kasper was behaving or not. Thankfully he was! Oli had trained him well.

Despite the fact that the kidney was doing wonders for my creatinine, I didn’t exactly feel my best. My memories of the day are rather blurred and hazy – probably due to the anesthetic and pain killers. After talking to various people I gradually began to remember more about what actually happened on this day…

Paranoia took over me and I was constantly worrying that any minute Kasper would decide he didn’t like his new home after all, but fortunately a new obsession was born when Dan, my boyfriend, conveniently sat at the bottom of my bed next to the urine collection bag and was amazed by the amount of wee going in there and became oddly obsessed with how quickly it was filling up. Every few minutes I would hear an excitable yelp "another 50mls Hols!" which went someway to reassure me...until he got bored. I then subjected him to my constant barrage of ‘how much have I peed now??’ every thirty seconds. Think he may have started to regret his sudden interest in my wee.

As much as I appreciated having lots of visitors, everyone had a habit of leaning on the bed making it wobble and causing me pain. Unfortunately the ultra sound guy didn’t exactly get this as he not only lent on my bed but decided to sit on it, and sat on my catheter tube at the same time…eeek!

The ultra sound itself was amazing though. I was shown my new kidney working away, and it was incredible to think that less than 24 hours ago this very kidney had been in Oli’s body completely unaware of the big journey it was about to embark on.

The anesthetic had put my tummy to sleep so I wasn't allowed to eat for around 48 hours until I made a ‘bottom noise’ (think the nurse thought I was about five). I still had the IV fluid drip which was keeping Kasper busy but this didn't stop me feeling mega thirsty. Having a dry mouth and lips made it harder to talk which I found really frustrating. All they could offer me was a tiny lolly pop sponge soaked in water to suck on, which literally provided about 3mls of water each time - and seemed to make me want to drink even more. My Mum’s biggest hate in life is sponges - she must have had a bad experience with one in a previous life or something and I could see her wincing with a grimace everytime I asked her to pass one to me. Most amusing.

The IV fluid machine

Looking a little green and ghostly.

Oli was in a fair bit of pain but was happily using his self-administrative morphine drip, which definitely helped. By about lunchtime he was able to sit out of bed and his catheter and some of his IV tubes were removed making him feel a bit more human again.

The Doctors came round again that evening and informed me that they wanted to see me sitting out of bed the next morning. Considering I literally couldn't move at this point, the thought of sitting up actually filled me with dread. I was determined to get better as soon as I could and obviously getting out of bed is vital to the healing process. So I snuggled down as best as I could that night (or should I say early evening, think it was about 6.30pm) and looked forward to the next step in my transplant journey...

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About Me

In between talking way too much about my cats (Milo and Tiger for those of you who are pretending you don't know) I am a filmmaker and photographer.
After waiting nearly five years for a kidney with my name on it to pop up on the UK donor list, my wonderful friend Oli came forward as a donor and miraculously was a good match. His selfless act has completely changed my life and I literally feel as though I've got a brand new body.
Check out my work on hollycocker.tumblr.com and www.hollycocker.com
I also like stripy hats a lot.